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Starcraft 2: No Lan Support

It was recently confirmed that Starcraft 2 will not support LAN multiplayer.

Blizzard just recently confirmed that there will be no LAN (local area networking) game mode in StarCraft 2. This was confirmed in a interview with Rob Pardo, senior VP of game design at Blizzard Entertainment. Rob Pardo stated:

â€œwe donâ€™t have any plans to support LAN,â€ he said and clarified â€œwe will not support it.â€ The only multiplayer available will be on Battle.net.

This seems like an inexplicably silly decision on Blizzard's part. I still plan LAN games with my friends on occasion. Granted, one can simply connect everyone to a switch and hook that into one's broadband connection to play multiplayer. But it seems needlessly controlling on Blizzard's part to remove the option of playing over a local network.

If the new Battle.net stuff makes it super easy to create private games with your friends I don't see this limitation as being too onerous. I mean playing SC2 probably isn't going to take that much bandwidth per player.

Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

It's to stop ze pirates from creating VPN's (over hamachi or other virtual lan apps) and playing all the SC2 they want against eachother. No option for LAN play? No multiplaying pirates.

Not as many people would have played over LAN anyways, no big deal.

How did all the korean progamers play against eachother, though? I figured they played through LAN in televized games, as to keep the latency down. I hope B.Net has it's shit thoroughly together so that progames won't have hiccups or spikes that have potential to ruin games.

Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

Pirate it and "enjoy" your single player and single player skirmish!

Not many people will, though (or at the least, a lot less people will).

This change has necessitated the purchase of the game to play online and enjoy the competitive multiplayer.

Not really surprising as they have said Diablo 3 would not have lan either. While I will miss lan i can see why they are doing it.

And it is not a terrible problem given that people can simply buy a switch and hook everyone up to the internet...but having to be online to play multiplayer if everyone is in the same physical room...that seems like a terrible precident to set.

Between splitting the game into three releases and now this, it seems WoW has given Blizzard a terribly accurate idea of just what consumers are willing to tolerate.

I wonder how many more people are going to pirate the game without losing any sleep because of this kind of thing.

Pirate it and "enjoy" your single player and single player skirmish!

Not many people will, though (or at the least, a lot less people will).

This change has necessitated the purchase of the game to play online and enjoy the competitive multiplayer.

Players have two options.
1. Buy the game. Patches and support, and you can play on B-net.
2. Pirate the game. Have to wait for patches to leak, and no B-net. But you can bet someone will have LAN capability cracked within a week of release.

To be fair, judgment about this should be reserved until information on the new B.Net 2.0 is released.

Either a LAN feature will be included once you connect to B.Net for authentication (like steam) or net-code is so good latency doesn't matter anymore, or there is some other replacement feature. It would be really dumb releasing SC2 without some form of LAN considering it's supposed to replace an entire industry built around it's predecessor in South Korea and spark new development in the west.

The going theory is that this is to prevent piracy, but I don't really understand how that would help all that much considering that the largest percentage of pirates will be those who will play single-player. Again, it should be interesting to get info on the new Battle Net.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

I think this helps curb piracy just a tad maybe. The big draw of their games is online play, and now with the new b.net system in place AND making it the only way you can play multiplayer... I dunno how many thieves want to go as far as coding in some shit in a game.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

To be fair, judgment about this should be reserved until information on the new B.Net 2.0 is released.

Either a LAN feature will be included once you connect to B.Net for authentication (like steam) or net-code is so good latency doesn't matter anymore, or there is some other replacement feature. It would be really dumb releasing SC2 without some form of LAN considering it's supposed to replace an entire industry built around it's predecessor in South Korea and spark new development in the west.

The going theory is that this is to prevent piracy, but I don't really understand how that would help all that much considering that the largest percentage of pirates will be those who will play single-player. Again, it should be interesting to get info on the new Battle Net.

Even if this were true, which is unlikely, it's still dumb.

And pirates will crack it anyways. Blizzard is just being stupid.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson

I'll reserve final judgement until I see how it actually works, but between this and the splitting of SC into three separate single player games, I'm seeing no incentive to buy this. Some of my fondest gaming memories revolve around LAN Starcraft; I don't want to have to connect to the internet just to play with the guy sitting next to me.

And what happens when Battle.net goes down? You can't play multi? Bet that would piss the Koreans right off to have a server go down in Irving and have to cancel a live televised SC Match.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

As long as the other 2 are billed as expansions with the appropriate price tag reduction like Brood Wars.

Doesn't particularly matter though, as I have been less and less impressed with Blizzards offerings/money grabbing of late. I'll wait until you suckers buy it and convince me it's awesome before I even consider buying it.

Our country is now taking so steady a course as to show by what road it will pass to destruction, to wit: by consolidation of power first, and then corruption, its necessary consequence --Thomas Jefferson

There are so many ways to curb stuff like Hamachi without actually banning LAN play. For example, in Dawn of War II, LAN games with a ping rating above what should be expected for an actual local connection don't appear.

And yeah, you can crack that, but it requires downloading a patch and physically changing your registry information. And every new patch invalidates the crack.

Is it a perfect solution? No, nothing ever is and there will be ways around it. But it is such a hassle that most people, I don't think, would bother. Meanwhile, it lets people who actually want to do actual LAN games , you know, get to it without hassle.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

As long as the other 2 are billed as expansions with the appropriate price tag reduction like Brood Wars.

Doesn't particularly matter though, as I have been less and less impressed with Blizzards offerings/money grabbing of late. I'll wait until you suckers buy it and convince me it's awesome before I even consider buying it.

You doubt that it's going to be awesome? THERE IS NO PLACE FOR YOU IN THIS WORLD!

Seriously, this game is going to be awesome, no matter if you can play LAN without being plugged into the internets for authentication or not.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

I'd much rather have 10 missions for each race, then two expansion packs with an additional 10 per race each.

Actually, I'd rather have one fucking game with one fucking storyline, regardless of what it takes to complete it. Splitting it up into three is such a totally transparent money grab that it sickens me. WoW has destroyed the Blizzard that was, and all that remains is a company who's primary focus is finding the best ways to squeeze every last fucking drop of cash out of every customer they can. Just watch. Each SC "Episode" will end with a cliffhanger, and your mandatory b.net multiplayer will assault you with ads.

As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

If they aren't stupid, they would have announced planned features/any small tidbit that makes em not look like money hungry fools. I guess we'll find out as soon as I get and pay for 3 copies of the same game.

My sarcasm meter might be wonky so excuse me but Blizzard are not charging 3 times for the same game. Each race will have ~30 missions and have adventure segments. That's way more content than the original Starcraft in the Terran pack alone. I don't see how any Starcraft fan can not be excited by having this much gameplay and story exposition, it's above and beyond what I expected.

I always *facepalm* at the surprising amounts of stupid generated in PA threads about anything Blizzard related; It's one game with two expansions packs. Not that this is what the thread is even about.

-

Again, this really isn't worth a thread until info on the new Battle Net is released so we can have some solid answers.

As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

So evil?

The company's behavior is out of the norm from what people expect. And that behavior is that of a company that wants to make money, which is what all companies want to do in the long run. It's like when musicians 'sellout.' It's a job man, people do it to make a living. Shock and horror, the reality of the world. It has spilled into our pure slice of the gaming industry.

As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

So evil?

I wouldn't say the content they made for wow was "Free". If it was we wouldn't be having to p2p. All that free content equals to is for us not to just play for 3-4 months, get bored and wait 1 year later till they release an expansion.

Don't get me wrong. I love blizzard and what they do, it's just their act lately is getting sad.

As an aside, what's with all the blizzard hate lately? IE All of their 'money grubbings and rawr we eat puppies'. They made an MMO 5 years ago, supported the shit out of it in terms of content for free, and now there are two expansions, both well received critically.

So evil?

I wouldn't say the content they made for wow was "Free". If it was we wouldn't be having to p2p. All that free content equals to is for us not to just play for 3-4 months, get bored and wait 1 year later till they release an expansion.

Don't get me wrong. I love blizzard and what they do, it's just their act lately is getting sad.

I guess as long as what they're releasing is quality, I don't see what the problem is.

All it means is that each player has to auth with Battlenet before and after the game for stat tracking, version checking and more importantly to cripple pirated copies. The data transfer during the game will be via the LAN still so no latency issues.

Please give Blizzard a little more credit, they're not stupid, they know how popular SC is at a tournament level.

This.

You can still have private or LAN games, you'll just have to authenticate first. It's a measure to prevent people from buying one copy and installing it on 8 machines for a LAN party and/or pirating additional copies for LAN-over-hamachi play.

Regarding the 3 separate single player releases, if each campaign is as long and as fully developed as they claim, then maybe it won't be so bad. Also you can always wait and buy the gold/battlechest edition if it turns out that buying three individual SC2 games is not a good value.

I'll wait for release to see how they handle this. The ~0 latency of LAN games is so important to pro-gamers for micromanaging units, and considering Blizzard is 100% designing this as a competitive (or e-sport... though I hate the term ever so much) game, I imagine they know what they're doing. Sounds like a nothing issue to me.

And seriously, I'll never understand the Blizzard hate. They've never released a bad game. They've never released a rushed game. A 30 mission Terran campaign with two 30 mission expansions is not a money grab. You'll be getting more than your $60 out of each one, given how amazing the online experience is going to be. Unless they decide to charge $200 apiece and require each expansion to continue playing online, you're wrong.